Whats the best way to store soaps for drying??

[beautifulsoaper]

Its very hot here reaches around 47 degree celcius and sometimes climate is humid. I want to cure and store my Cold process soap. Kindly please tell me what are the best ways to store it so that it doesn't go bad like brown spots or any other thing.

Can I put them in a hot room?
Will they be okay if ventilation is low since climate is humid.

Please help.

 

[Anstarx]

My place got hot and humid in summer but not as hot as yous (goes as high as 38C ish). I used to keep them in a room that has AC but since my collection grew larger I had to move them into the living room with no AC.
I set up a small fan that points at the soap shelf and is on pretty much 24/7 with gentle wind for the height of summer (July and August). In June and September, where it's not as hot but still humid, I only keep it on during the day.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

My place got hot and humid in summer but not as hot as yous (goes as high as 38C ish). I used to keep them in a room that has AC but since my collection grew larger I had to move them into the living room with no AC.
I set up a small fan that points at the soap shelf and is on pretty much 24/7 with gentle wind for the height of summer (July and August). In June and September, where it's not as hot but still humid, I only keep it on during the day.

Would you really advise putting a fan on?
I mean it brings my costs high and its difficult to setup where i have put them. What do you think?

 

[Anstarx]

Would you really advise putting a fan on?
I mean it brings my costs high and its difficult to setup where i have put them. What do you think?

It's not exact science worked well so far in my scenario. Sure i got some DOS occasionally but that's usually from botched batches instead of environment reasons.
I'm no soap scientists, but I think the humidity get to the soap more than the heat. If you don't have/want a dehumidifier, a fan circulated the air and kinda blows away the moisture, and more cost effective than dehumidifier.
I usually have the A/C on in my room anyway, so when I just started and only made a couple of small and unscented/light-scented batches, I just put them near the A/C in my room, that way they don't need a dedicated fan. If you have only small batches so far I suppose you can also try that.

 

[Arimara]

My corner of the world is experiencing wonky but humid weather at the moment. During the summer, Humidity needs to be controlled before I worry about temperatures. In your case, you may benefit most from controlling the humidity of your environment first.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Yes - humidity is a problem here both in summer and winter. In the end I bought a cheap dehumidifier and keep it running on the most humid days (above 75%) but not if it's below 70.
@Dawni - how do you cope with humidity? Any tips?
According to Google - Los Anglesea CA has an average humidity of 65%
My town in New Zealand has an average humidity of 85%
Interestingly I see the average humidity in the Philippines AND in Pakistan is considerably lower than in New Zealand. Even Hawaii's average is 64%. That surprises me. I guess it's just that your temperatures are hotter and not so much the humidity, so you may be ok with a fan.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

This is so helpful—it’s my first summer selling soap; one batch developed DOS by end of August last summer (I only had a few curing back then), but I blamed my ingredients. This summer I’ve already had two should-be-stable batches develop DOS: a 0%superfat batch of ZNC, and an entire batch of HP that had a 100% cocoa butter superfat and canned coconut milk. They should’ve been really stable. None of it made sense until I read your posts… looks like I either need to use the AC or buy a dehumidifier!

FYI, I don’t mind heat and rarely use the AC. Ave humidity is 60-80% in my area, and indoor temps get up to 85F. Looks cheaper to invest in a dehumidifier once than to pay an extra $300 for AC use all summer every summer.

 

[Quilter99755]

I live in high desert country. Very hot in the summer...over 100F in about half of the days. Humidity is low. I have only had one bar of soap to get DOS and it fell off a shelf in the bathroom cabinet and was hidden for a couple years. It was probably the most humid place in the house.

My daughter lives in Hawaii and she keeps her soaps in a plastic ziplock bag in her pantry which is fairly dry. I cringed at the bag, but so far they have not developed DOS. She has to seal all of her pantry staples, cereal, crackers that way or they all turn to soggy chewy mush within hours. I don't know if that would help you in your storage woes, but it's the only way she can keep other things from ruin AND so far no DOS in her soap. I do keep it here in our dry climate until she needs a batch and then send it to her. So it has had a chance to dry out before putting in the ziplock bags.

 

[TheGecko]

Can I put them in a hot room?
Will they be okay if ventilation is low since climate is humid.

You really need air circulation when it comes to humidity. Even a small fan blowing across your soap will help tremendously.

 

[beautifulsoaper]

Thank you Everyone for all your kind responses. It is really helping and I just love this community and each of you guys put so much effort in helping strangers on the Internet. Thank you for being here guys! Love you all

 

[Dawni]

Yes - humidity is a problem here both in summer and winter. In the end I bought a cheap dehumidifier and keep it running on the most humid days (above 75%) but not if it's below 70.
@Dawni - how do you cope with humidity? Any tips?
According to Google - Los Anglesea CA has an average humidity of 65%
My town in New Zealand has an average humidity of 85%
Interestingly I see the average humidity in the Philippines AND in Pakistan is considerably lower than in New Zealand. Even Hawaii's average is 64%. That surprises me. I guess it's just that your temperatures are hotter and not so much the humidity, so you may be ok with a fan.

Really? Today it's at 72% humidity, 95F temp. And today isn't one of the worst days.... We can go up to 90% in summers. But weather has been wonky here to. They've announced rainy season last month already - in previous years they announce that only around August

Best thing to do for heat + humidity is air-conditioning. But I can't have our AC on just for soaps all day lol so they sometimes get just a fan + dehumidifier.. And also mounds of uncooked rice in the corners or the boxes/shelves haha.

Some days, despite having this I still need to keep checking them and wiping them down when I see droplets. Yes, droplets, not even just sticky soap, actual droplets.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

After losing those two batches of soap to DOS and reading this thread, my new dehumidifier arrived today. Hopefully the rest of my batches stay totally sellable!

Spent a few hours reading reviews Thursday morning, then ordered a Frigidaire 35 pint for $190. Cat is delighted with the box.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

FTR, it takes about 16 hours to pull 3.5L of water out of the air in my 489 sq ft apartment, and I've never dropped below a 40% humidity, usually hovers 40-50% even though it's working this effectively. I really needed this! It does raise the temp around it 5F, so I keep it around the corner from my soap.